The present invention relates to a lateral illuminated buckle for vehicle seat belt systems and, in particular, to an illuminated buckle suitable for the seat belt system provided on the rear seat of the vehicle.
Seat belt systems are provided on the seats of a vehicle for restraining the body of the occupant in case of collision and for protecting the occupant from secondary impacts with internal parts of the vehicle. A seat belt is usually placed over the body by inserting a tongue on the belt into a buckle attached to the vehicle. At night and in other poorly illuminated conditions, however, it is frequently difficult to locate the buckle. This is especially troublesome in vehicle rear seats, where the belt buckles are often not located in fixed positions.
For these reasons, it has been proposed in the prior art to provide an illuminating device on the buckle and to illuminate the tongue inlet of the buckle so that it is visible in darkness.
For example, the Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 54-76818 discloses an arrangement to illuminate the pushbutton on the seat buckle. Japanese Patent Publications No. 55-30366 and No. 55-30367 and Japanese Utility Model Publications No. 57-22803 and No. 63-42809 disclose an arrangement to illuminate the edge of the tongue inlet of the buckle. Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 48-49126 discloses an arrangement to selectively illuminate the foregoing two components.
In all of these previously known arrangements, however, the end surface of the buckle is illuminated. Although illumination of the buckle end is effective when the buckle is supported by a stalk in an upright position, it is not satisfactory when the buckle is haphazardly placed on a seat or is upside down, as is often the case of the buckles in seat belt systems for the back seat. In such cases, it is not easy to visually locate the buckle even though lighted Moreover, lighting the end of the buckle is not suitable for practical application in some cases.